More Than One
by goldiejefferson
Summary: I've always wondered about Jack's statement in Utopia that he went back to the Powell Estate to watch Rose growing up. This interaction came out of that. Missing scene from The Sound of Drums. Martha, Jack and the Doctor talk regeneration and Rose Tyler. I've never tried to write Martha or Jack so not sure if I got their voices down.


Martha eyed the Doctor suspiciously as he started to take apart her laptop adding it to the pile of other scavenged electronic devices she had already surrendered. Jack was emptying his pockets per instructions even though the Doctor hadn't told either one of them why. As quickly as she pulled things out of her pocket the Doctor sorted them. Her ten pound note was returned but he kept her change and lip balm. A paper clip and pencil from Jack were added to the pile. Martha held a hand over her mouth to hide a smile as the Doctor began pulling things from his own coat. Out came a wind-up mouse, wooden paddle ball, Christmas cracker, pair of tweezers, tiny pink drink umbrella, credit chips, paper 3D glasses, a jewelers loop...the items kept coming and the Doctor reviewed them and just as quickly stuffed them back if they weren't useful. Martha couldn't see how any of the items on the table could possibly be useful against the Master. Her family was locked up like dogs and they were hidden away sorting through the lost and found for solutions. She tried to keep the panic and rage down by focusing on the Doctor who stood over the collected hodgepodge and rubbed his hands together like he was about to dive in to Christmas dinner.

"Guess we should just sit here and watch you work your magic, huh Doctor?" Jack, grabbed two rickety chairs and brought them over towards the makeshift workbench. They had moved into an abandoned warehouse when the skies opened up. It was here that they found a paint splattered table, broken chairs and safety - though she knew it was only temporary. Martha took one of the seats Jack offered and looked over at the huge windows not sure if she was looking at the wet night or her own eyes in the reflection since both were dark and troubling. Her mind started to wander back to her mother and father's faces as they were being hauled away and she felt her hands ball up into fists.

Jack's hand loosened her grip when it came down over hers and she turned to see him leaning over to her.

"We will find them." He held her hand loosely and smiled at her, momentarily deflecting her guilt and anger.

The Doctor was moving manically around the table seeming to touch every item at once. He crouched down and Martha saw a magnetized brown eye through the loop, using the screwdriver to solder the tip of paper clip. Next he was up again reaching across for the pencil using it's tip to hold something in place on the laptop circuit board. She was going to go mad watching his nervous energy with nothing to distract her.

"How long did you travel with the Doctor, Jack?" She had said the first thing that came to mind hoping that one of Jack's stories would soothe her nerves.

"Oh not long. Six or seven trips at most I think. We packed a lot in though. Rose, me and the Doctor. Not this Doctor mind you." That caught Martha's attention.

"So the Master isn't the only one who has changed his appearance? The Doctor's done this too? He's looked different before?"

"Nine times different, actually." Martha was startled that the Doctor commented. He appeared deep in thought while disemboweling her cell phone.

"Seriously."

"Most definitely." The Doctor continued to sonic what was left of her cell phone.

"You're getting the refined version Martha." Jack smiled at her. "When I first met him he was all ears and Northern."

"Oi! If I recall you would have liked to get to know those ears better."

"Yep, this version is definitely cheekier." Jack smiled at Martha all the same.

Martha continued to try and understand this. "So, let me get this straight. Time Lords can change their appearances. Any time they want?"

The Doctor didn't seem interested in elaborating so Jack took over. "Not anytime, just when they are about to die. They can take their energy and basically recycle it back into their bodies. Although they come out looking, sounding, acting different but with the same biology, memories and thoughts. How'd I do doctor?"

"Well enough for a human explanation." The Doctor sniffed.

"And this Doctor, our...I mean, my Doctor. He's done this nine times before?"

The Doctor had crouched down so he was eye level with the table. "I really wish people would stop with the possessive pronouns. I'm not his, her or your Doctor. It's just _**the **_Doctor. But yup. Nine times."

The whirring of the screwdriver continued as Martha tried to picture the Doctor looking like anything other than...well, her Doctor.

"How many times has the Master been...recycled?" She asked.

"Regenerated," The Doctor corrected. "I'm not a compost pile. And I don't know. My regenerations knew all his previous regenerations but if he made himself human. Hid himself away. I'm not sure if that re-sets the clock."

"Wait. You have a limit to your regenerations?" It was Jack's turn to question him.

"Yup," popping his "p" loudly. "Twelve. Alright I'm about ready. I need your TARDIS keys." The Doctor stood up and held his hand out to each of them. Martha pulled the key off her key chain and Jack did the same.

"You ready to tell us what you're making and how it's going to help us kill the Master?" Jack leaned back against his chair, legs stretched out in front of him. One would never know by looking at his relaxed stance that he was fugitive number three in all of England.

"It's not." The Doctor's voice took on a menacing tone. "And you should know that about me Jack. Different face but same moral code. I'm not Torchwood." As Jack stared across the table Martha could see a tension creep into his arms that suddenly belied his casual pose. Suddenly Captain Jack Harkness was not all laughter and innuendos but dark and dangerous as well. Martha wanted to kill the Master even more than Jack did, but she also knew dividing their small team by angering the Doctor was not going to help. She laid a hand on Jack's thigh hoping the intimate contact, ruse though it was, would break up the tension. It worked. Jack immediately relaxed and leaned towards Martha, even as his eyes stayed focused on the Doctor who had continued to tinker with their keys.

"Jack, tell me about your trips with the other Doctor and Rose." Martha noticed out of the corner of her eye that the Doctor briefly looked up before continuing with his mechanics. Jack happily took the bait and started talking.

"Well, Rose and I met during the London Blitz. She had wandered away from the Doctor, did that quite a bit if I recall. When I found her she was hanging from a barrage balloon in the middle of a German air raid. Got her down, fixed her up, saved her life."

"Almost lost it not long afterwards if I recall…" The Doctor interjected again.

"Now, Doctor, is this your story or mine?" Martha relaxed a little as their casual banter returned. She silently congratulated herself on guiding the conversation towards something lighter. And, if she learned a little more about the infamous Rose Tyler at the same time, all the better.

"The previous Doctor invited me on board - in large part because I think Rose sort of fancied me back then. Naturally." Jack whispered with a wink towards Martha but the Doctor's snicker was not lost on either of them. "London, Japan, Arkannis Major, Raxacoriofallaptoria. Cardiff." Jack made a face on the last location and Martha smiled in agreement. "Got into some hot spots along the way of course. Some worse than others. Oh it was fun. Lots of running. I missed the running. I even missed that daft face of yours Doctor. But I especially missed…" Jack paused and looked up. Martha realized the Doctor had stopped his work momentarily and was staring at Jack with an interesting look on his face, waiting to hear his next words.

"You know Martha," Jack drolled slowly, directing his next statement to her. "I think we all fell in love with Rose. Just some of us were more willing to admit to it. Am I right Doctor." Jack turned back to the Doctor.

The challenge lay there on the table next to the circuit boards, burnt metal and TARDIS keys. The silence stretched and wrapped around each of them. Martha glanced from one to the other wondering how to send this conversation back to safer ground, when Jack did it for her.

"Too bad for me, Martha Jones," Jack sat up and slapped his hands on his thighs. "Rose was a one-man guy. And I, was not that guy." He broke eye contact with the Doctor and turned to her. "Can you imagine me settling down with one woman anyway? The hole that would leave in the universes?"

She smiled at his attempt to hide his feelings but she had caught a glimpse of what was there under the surface. For some reason Rose Tyler, had affected these two men the same way but only one had captured her affection. And yet here they were in exactly the same place. Alone with their grief.

Suddenly none of that mattered. Because the Doctor threaded a string through each of the TARDIS keys. He clapped his hands together officially ending their loaded conversation.

"Three TARDIS keys. Three pieces of the TARDIS all with low level perception particles.…."


End file.
